Tahoma

So, I realize that I have been procrastinating blogging because I desperately wanted to go in order, but all the sailing pictures are on the laptop at home and I have a much better chance of sneaking in a post at the office. So you'll just have to keep waiting for sailing and Kyle pictures, and instead see pictures of my recent trip to Washington. The three weekends previous to my trip I was watching my friend's quilt shop. And kayaking on the (huge) lake in front of their house. Smokey came with me on the last weekend and was gracious enough to provide some proof of my kayaking. Note, however, that it is so foggy I could be anywhere. Very fun paddling.

My good friend, KAES, was gracious enough to pick me up at the airport and drive me around town to pick up a few last minute (forgotten/forbidden on airplanes) items for my trip. Then she drove me to the trailhead where I met up with Skippy and Al, two librarians from Minnesota, who had organized the trip. They were having a very interesting discussion with the ranger when I arrived. It seems they didn't read the fine print on the permit paperwork and so hadn't actually activated the permit by picking it up before hitting the trail. She was very kind and came back in the morning to create a unique hand written permit for us and call in an activation. Little did we know this was the beginning of our notoriety with the rangers. I think we all had a slight panic and doubts about the trip when we woke up to ice on our pack covers and table.

We loaded up on water from the lake before hitting the trail. Probably I should have just let these two pump all the water for the trip. The pump only lasted one more day and failed while I was using it. But the first thing to fail was my camera, a victim of the cold, it stopped working less than an hour after we left Mowich Lake. We were lucky in the pump department and a nice pair of local folks loaned us theirs.....which died while I was using it eight days later. Luckily by then Skippy had called her husband for additional food and he had also sent along a ton of iodine tablets. Neither Skippy or I will ever hike without them again, especially with the anti-iodine taste tablets.

While we paused many times on the trail for the others to take pictures of the mountain I just stared at it. Until day five or six when I realized it had been blisteringly hot instead of cold and I got an inkling that my batteries may have recovered. I was lucky and they had, so I finally got to join in the mountain paparazzi.

Skippy hurt her foot along the best portion of the trail to do so and Al and I left her at Box Canyon after she had hitched a ride with a lovely elderly couple to Longmire. Despite our late start and slow mile to the road, Al and I were at our reserved campsite for the night by 2:30, where we ate lunch and decided to push on. As the sky became cloudy, we trudged up the worst (in my memory) few miles to Reflection Lakes. Thankfully we had both seen them before on previous trips to the park and were only a little dissapointed at the clouds preventing reflecting.

The next morning on our way to meet up with Skippy again (a day early), we observed some very impressive cairn building skills. In my opinion, this is one of the only cool things Skippy missed on that section of the trail. Mostly Al and I were trying to stay in touch with our inner mountain goats and walk light as butterflies so as to not slide off the side of the ridge. When we weren't being confused by where we were going to cross the road, that is.

Yes, this is the same mountain. Sometimes it was very hard to believe. Some sides had a really snowy face and others, like this one, were very rocky.

It's a miracle, really, that we finished the hike in only 12 days. Once Skippy and Al were pros at identifying berries they were as obsessive as me at snacking on the biggest juiciest ones. And there's always a huge juicy one waiting for you around the next bend.

Evidence of the mountain making it's own weather. While these clouds look scarey, they didn't prove troublesome to us at all.

Another frequent site for me, handy cams at work. I think they are taking a picture of a scene too beautiful to be real. It includes a quaint cabin and the mountain in the background.

The second suspension bridge. Turns out when you have your pack on and are crossing a suspension bridge it's a whole lot different than when you cross without your pack. I know this seems obvious, but it wasn't something I thought about until I got across this hummer. All I could think about was 'don't look down' and 'wow the other bridge was not this scary, what happened?'

Ah, Skippy. Taking in the sunshine after the rain. See how she generously leaves her pack cover on to keep the rain away? I kept my rain jacket close at hand for the same reason.

Andesite columns. Was looking forward to learning about these in Geomorphology, but will have to wait as my schedule was too full. And I'm a little too old to be as ridiculous about that as I used to be. This formation is called the 'Devil's Pipeorgan'.

Several times we found ourselves looking down onto the clouds. It was a little odd and made me feel like I might be flying.

Several miles of trail led through an old burn area from 1928. It was amazing to see how slowly things grow back at that elevation. And also how slowly things break down. In theory I understand this, but it is different to see it in person.

Very postcard view. We saw a black bear in this burn area. He was very small and unconcerned with us. Apparently the berries were far more interesting.

The legendary Golden Lakes. Our journey here was less epic than expected, made all the more sweet by the quaint ranger cabin, lack of bugs, and beautiful weather. Our guide reports that you can see some awesome sunsets from this camp. We didn't stay to check it out since it was lunch time when we arrived and we knew there were a million switchbacks between us and camp.

And along those switchbacks were seeps. Or what I assume would normally be seeps if it wasn't as dry as it was during our visit. It obviously isn't dry for too long or the green moss carpet would not stay so green.

I don't know how, but in all my time in the woods I have never seen this. This is a fir cone, plentiful along the trail. The seeds inside the cone have sprouted and are sticking out. Very cool. I think that makes me a wood nerd. Or maybe a tree nerd?

The last bridge, one of many similar ones crossed on the trail. Sometimes they were obviously installed this year. Sometimes former ones (or parts of former ones) were obviously strewn about. Made me glad to be hiking in the autumn instead of the spring.

Al's pack exploded after we got down the hill to their pick up point in town. Mine and Skippy's looked very similar. In fact, mine is still exploded on the stairwell at the house. Just one of the many benefits of living in a house instead of an apartment. I'm already plotting for the next trip. In-between studying, that is. And Smokey is home from his trip too. All safe and mostly sound.